


Un-defying Gravity

by snekwami



Category: BoBoiBoy (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, about time for some girl power, am I going to be the first person to post a wlw fic in this fandom on ao3? yes, nerds being nerds, the world needs more Yayi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 12,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22515478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snekwami/pseuds/snekwami
Summary: The glorious rivalry of "who is the smartest TAPOPS member" but with added pining.
Relationships: Ying/Yaya
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Femslash February! It feels like forever since I actually wrote any wlw content so I gotta change that, and anyway these two are super underrated. I'll probably keep these chapters pretty short because I'm not sure how much writing time I'll get this month, and I want to get this finished before March (y'know, since it's Femslash FEB...)

Life could be so boring sometimes. That was the problem with being too competent – nothing was ever really a challenge. And without a clear plan of what to improve on, there was just nothing to _do_.

For what seemed like the millionth day in a row, Ying sat poring over some book in the library at TAPOPS Space Station with Yaya at her side, barely even taking in what she was reading. She had already read all the books in here anyway. When was she going to be sent out on missions again?

Well, she knew the answer. She would be sent out on missions again when her other friends were deemed good enough to not need all the practice. Commander Koko Ci saw no point in telling Ying and Yaya to go get power spheras when he knew that they were already perfectly capable. No, it always had to be Boboiboy and Gopal. They were the ones who were constantly useless enough to actually need the field training.

At least they were getting to go out and actually have fun…

They probably didn’t think of it as fun though, did they? Not when they were so incompetent that it was more like _chronically avoiding a horrible death_ than anything else. But they got to visit new planets, new places, see new creatures, unlike being stuck back here…

All that was left to do was read and reread, keep studying, wait for new weekly shipments of books to arrive to alleviate the boredom.

The main problem was, she wasn’t even good enough at that! Yaya was better, and Ying knew it. That absolute smartie had been voted “Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS” and wouldn’t let anyone forget it. Not for an instant.

It was impossible to forget about anyway, with that framed picture of Yaya up on the library wall, the ceremony where she’d been given an honorary badge to wear that everyone had to attend, the fact that people everywhere kept bringing it up all the time.

Was it… was it mean for Ying to be jealous of her own best friend? She could hardly help it! No one seemed to acknowledge her academic capabilities. She worked so hard, and for what? Sure, she enjoyed it, but when Yaya got all this praise and Ying never heard a word of it, it really was not all that fun…

“Shouldn’t there be a leaderboard or something?” Ying said, glaring at that Yaya portrait.

The real flesh-and-blood Yaya looked up from her book. “Why should there be a leaderboard?”

“It’s only fair that way! We know who the number one Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS is, but what about second place?”

“You think you’re second place?” Yaya asked, smiling ever so sweetly at her.

That smile had a gravity of its own, it really did. Ying had been sure for a quite a while now that Yaya leaked her gravity powers sometimes without realizing it – there was always something sticking Ying to the floor whenever Yaya was nearby.

“I _know_ I’m second place,” Ying said. “Well – I mean, I could be first if I just studied harder…”

Yaya laughed. “There’s no shame in second place! Be content with it!”

“I’ll overtake you some day, I swear…”

“That’s impossible. But you know what…” Yaya tapped her pen against her book, in thought. “You have a point about the leaderboard. I’d like to know who my competition is. Among our friends, of course you’re certainly second place, but what about across all of TAPOPS? We need some way of quantifying this.”

“Like an IQ test or an exam!” Ying suggested.

“Yes, something like that! Good ideas, Ying!”

Yaya gave her an affectionate poke in the arm with the end of her pen. As miffed as Ying was about always being second place, it was still nice to know that it did not hurt her friendship with Yaya. Yaya never hesitated to show her appreciation.

“I’ll discuss this with the Commander,” Yaya continued. “A leaderboard system would be a good way to motivate everyone to study. To get me some actual competition.”

And just like that, all Ying’s fluffy friendship thoughts promptly left her brain. “Hey, what do you mean?! I’m already your competition!”

Yaya’s dazzlingly bright eyes were always just a second or two away from being consumed with fire and brimstone, as everyone was wary of, and right now they flashed dangerously. “Then prove it.”

“I will! You and Commander Koko Ci make that leaderboard, and I’ll show you I’m second place, if not first!”

Yaya snapped her book shut and stood up to leave. “That’s the spirit! I’ll go organize something right now!”

With that she strode off, leaving nothing but her books and the faint scent of flowery perfume in her wake.

Ying turned back to her own book, trying to get her brain to focus. It always seemed a little harder when Yaya was around – whether due to their academic rivalry or some kind of gravitational effect on her brain, she hadn’t quite worked out yet.

She could definitely be second place, right? Surely no one else at TAPOPS was quite at the level of her or Yaya…


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me @ me: WRITE SHORT CHAPTERS FOR ONCE YOU COWARD OR YOU'LL RUN OUT OF STEAM

Ying stared up at the ceiling of the room, not sleepy enough to drift off yet. Of course, in the dark without her glasses on, she couldn’t see much of anything anyway.

“So what did the Commander say?” she asked.

From off on the other side of their room, Yaya’s voice was chipper as always. “He agreed to the leaderboard idea!”

“You did tell him that it was _my_ idea, right?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t commit intellectual property theft, especially not from my best friend.”

Ying turned onto her side and grinned into the wall. The warm fuzzies she got from hearing Yaya call her _best friend_ … All these years it had never lessened its impact.

“So how is the leaderboard going to work?” she asked.

“That’s a secret! We decided on a method but it’s not ready yet, so you’ll find out later.”

“What? Oh come on, you can tell me!”

“No I can’t! It has to be a surprise!”

Ying pouted, though obviously Yaya couldn’t see it. “Pleeeeeease? I’ll tell you a secret of mine in return! I totally had a crush on Sonic the Hedgehog for several years – okay now you have to tell me!”

Yaya sighed. “I really can’t, I promised I wouldn’t…”

“What? So I told you about the Sonic thing for nothing?!” Ying rolled over and pressed her face into her pillow, wishing she had thought for even a second before saying that. But she was just too impulsive and speedy with her words sometimes, wasn’t she? It was always causing her problems…

“No, it’s okay, I’ll just tell you some other secret instead!”

Another secret? Ooh, this really was turning into a sleepover-style chat. Ying turned back to look at her – but even squinting, it was all a blurry dark mess. “Yeah, go on then!”

“I… um…” Yaya’s voice had gone much quieter all of a sudden. “Don’t freak out or anything, I’ve been wanting to tell someone for a while actually, but… uh… I-I’m a lesbian…”

A _what???_

Ying’s brain scrambled to produce any kind of coherent thought.

Yaya, a _lesbian?_ For real?

Goody-two-shoes, bookworm, competent stronk queen Yaya? Never in a million years would she ever have suspected–

_Don’t just splutter in silence, Ying you idiot, say something!!!_

“…I thought you were Malaysian,” she managed to choke out.

Then immediately winced and smacked her hand against her forehead. Yaya had just come out to her, and her first instinct was to meme? Really???

Yaya evidently did not seem to mind, thankfully enough. She let out a feeble giggle. “So… you’re okay with it?”

Stopping to think for a second, beyond the surprise factor, Ying genuinely did not have a problem with that at all. Then again, there hadn’t yet been enough time for it to really sink it, but the important thing right now was to be supportive. “Of course I am!”

“Oh, I’m so glad!” Yaya’s voice was back to normal volume now, the relief clearly audible. “You’re the first person I told, you know? Because you’re my best friend… But to everyone else I was always the model student, and to realize I’m not straight, well… I’m worried people would be upset that I can’t do what I’m expected to do or be who I’m supposed to be…”

Ying clenched her fists. “I will super speed flying kick the homophobes for you!”

Yaya giggled again. “Thank you Ying! I’m really glad I told you! I feel so much better now.”

Ying just smiled back up at the ceiling, some kind of extra gravity gluing her right down. It still wasn’t processing in her brain.

Yaya? A lesbian?? And why was she getting so weirdly fixated on this fact??? It simply wouldn’t leave her brain.


	3. Chapter 3

The new leaderboard was busy being constructed in the corridor. Ying paused to watch for several minutes, much as the others were doing, but it wasn’t particularly interesting. Commander Koko Ci had shown up for a while to supervise, and she dashed over to him.

“Commander! How is this leaderboard going to work? What’s the criteria to get onto it?”

He took off both pairs of sunglasses just so that he could visibly roll his eyes at her, then put them back on. “Don’t ask me, ask Yaya.”

Ying frowned. “But she won’t tell me, she says it’s a surprise…”

“Well I’m not getting involved in this poor excuse for a matchmaking attempt, so if you’ll excuse me, I won’t be answering any more questions about it.”

“Matchmaking??? What does a leaderboard have to do with–”

“What did I say?! No more questions!”

Ying hastily put her hands up in a salute. “Yes, sorry Commander!”

The Commander turned back to the leaderboard for a few seconds, before evidently deciding that he had better things to be doing, and walked off.

Well, now what? Hopefully Yaya would tell her soon, she was getting ever more curious… And seriously, _matchmaking?_ That had nothing to do with anything. This was a leaderboard to judge who the smartest TAPOPS members were! Or at least, that was what it was supposed to be.

There was a voice from the other end of the corridor. “YING! There you are!”

She turned to see Boboiboy running up towards her. “Oh hi Boboiboy, you’re back from your mission? What’s–”

“It was terrible!” He barely managed to skid to a halt before crashing into her, wiping tears out of his eyes with his sleeve.

“Really? What happened?”

“Well I accidentally hit Gopal with a fireball and then he got mad at me and then we were so distracted we got attacked by monsters, and we didn’t even get the power sphera and the Admiral yelled at us loads, and the worst part is, Fang said he would sell me to Satan for a single red carrot donut…” He grabbed Ying’s arm for comfort. “I’m not less valuable than a donut, am I?”

Oh, so Fang had shown up for a mission after all? That was nice to hear. He didn’t spend as much time at the space station as the others, always having to go off and do his own missions or help his brother out or whatever. It would be nice to see him again – not that it had been that long, but still…

Ying gave Boboiboy an encouraging smile. “Of course you’re not less valuable than a donut! Don’t listen to him. He’s just being rude.”

Boboiboy briefly smiled back, before looking up at the half-constructed leaderboard. “What’s this?”

“Yaya was voted Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS,” Ying explained, “so we decided to have a leaderboard to rank everyone else too.”

“Haha, I already know you’ll be second!”

“Of course I will! But Yaya won’t tell me _how_ everyone’s going to be ranked by smartness, like will we all be given homework? Or exams?”

Boboiboy winced. “I hope not…”

“Why not? I wouldn’t mind!”

“You’re so weird, Ying…”

She ignored that. Why no one else except Yaya seemed to like studying, she would never understand. “Do you think you could try asking Yaya? Be really adorable, offer to eat her cookies or something!”

“Yeesh, I’m not doing that! Anyway, if she won’t tell you, then there’s no way she would tell anyone else. She trusts you the most.”

Ying vaguely registered the heat rising to her cheeks. “Heh… I guess that’s true…” More true than he even knew. After all, Yaya had trusted Ying enough to come out to her…

“And I’m sure she’ll tell you soon enough, right? Once this leaderboard is built and ready for names to go on it, then she’ll have to tell you.”

“Do you think she sometimes uses her gravity powers without realizing?” Ying asked.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s more gravity when she’s around sometimes. It’s stronger.”

Boboiboy thought for a second, then shook his head. “I never noticed.”

“Really? Gah, you must be so oblivious! It always happens! Whenever Yaya shows up, there’s extra gravity, like I’m glued to the floor…”

She trailed off, realizing how absurd it sounded. She hadn’t considered that other people hadn’t noticed it – she’d assumed it was so obvious that the others _must_ feel it too. Being suddenly pulled down, or pulled towards her, in a strange heat… okay yeah, it did sound a bit weird, now that she thought about it.

Boboiboy shrugged. “I don’t know, are you sure you’re not just… um…”

“Just what?”

He grinned, clearly trying to hold back a giggle. “In love with her!”

“WHAT?” Ying knew she was blushing, and quickly tried to think of something to change the topic, because just – just – certainly not… “Excuse me? I’m not – I’m not in love with her! I’m… I’m in love with FANG, so there!”

Wait, no, why had she said that? Her voice worked faster than her brain, that was the problem!

Boboiboy, however, was looking a lot less smug all of a sudden. “Hey, what? No way! Back off! I’M in lo– uh… I mean…”

“Huh? What?”

“Nothing!” He crossed his arms. “Just… don’t bother, he already probably cares about donuts more than you…”

Ying, being hit with the realization that yet another one of her friends was gay, just gulped it all down and tried to think once before speaking. “Anyway, let’s get this straight: I am straight. I’m definitely straight. Heterosexual. And I’m not in love with Yaya. Okay? That’s ridiculous.”

“Fine, sorry…”

“Good. I’m straight. _You_ , on the other hand…”

“Uhhh I just remembered I have to go!” Boboiboy looked down at his watch – his _power watch_ , which never showed the time – before turning around and sprinting off at top speed.

Ying knew she could easily catch up, but there was no point. Anyway, that dumb gravity was pinning her to the spot again – Yaya wasn’t around, was she? Ying had a quick check, but no, Yaya was nowhere in sight.

Huh… seriously? Ying had never had a crush on a girl before, no way. Well, except celebrity crushes, but those were different, right? In any case, there was no chance she had a crush on Yaya. Absolutely not.

Unless…

No. She turned back and glared at the leaderboard. There was another explanation for this, surely, and as the second smartest member of TAPOPS, she would make it her mission to find out.


	4. Chapter 4

Ying and Yaya’s daily chess match was always a spectacle. The library would be filled with people waiting to see the outcome, watching the game with intense concentration, almost as much as the participants themselves.

The scoreboard up on the wall indicated that Yaya had won just slightly over half of their matches. It usually was very close, with the games sometimes going on for over an hour and eventually being declared a draw if they hit the two hour mark. At least Ying did manage to win some of the time – it would be a lot more discouraging if she never stood a chance.

Today, however…

Oh, she stood absolutely zero chance today.

Yaya was gazing at the board with her usual fiery, calculating eyes, the tiniest of smirks on her face as she moved piece after piece with the most careful precision. She really was on top form.

And Ying? Well, Ying was a mess.

Her brain was still too clouded with thoughts of – well – not gay thoughts! It wasn’t really that. But she certainly kept thinking about the fact that Yaya was a lesbian, despite everything else.

Yaya was so perfect! That was the thing. She was the Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS. At school she had always got top marks in all her exams, only occasionally bested by Ying. She was polite, thoughtful, undeniably beautiful. She was environmentally conscious. The only thing she was notably bad at was cooking, but she also happened to be so fierce that no one would ever say it to her face. And yet she was so sweet too, so kind, such a wonderful friend all these years. Not to mention absurdly powerful.

Perfect. Literal perfection. The greatest role model, the greatest inspiration.

For so long, Ying had struggled with the jealousy of having to live in Yaya’s shadow, constantly second place and never being able to be _quite_ that perfect. It was so unfair. The most unfair part was how she couldn’t blame Yaya for it – she loved having her as a friend. It was a weird relationship indeed, some odd mix of affection and bouts of explosive rivalry.

It was all too easy to be jealous of someone who was just so perfect…

But now she knew Yaya’s secret. Yaya herself considered it a negative – that people would stop seeing her as perfect if they knew the truth.

Ying tried so very, very hard not to take satisfaction in knowing that there was something that Perfect Yaya was self-conscious about after all. But how could she not? It was giving her such mixed feelings, she had no clue how to deal with any of it!

“Check!”

She snapped out of her thoughts to see that in her daze, Yaya had managed to take most of her pieces and now had her king backed against a wall.

Right… this was not good.

Ying lifted her hand to move her king and get herself out of this mess, only to realize that her fingers were trembling slightly. Was it the gravity? It was stronger in here again. She gulped. It wasn’t a symptom of _love_ , jeez, how stupid of Boboiboy to suggest such a thing, because now that dumb thought wouldn’t leave her brain…

She moved her piece, then sat back. Phew… it was warm in here. There were little beads of sweat forming under the rim of her hat. Maybe she’d need to wash it again today.

Yaya’s smile widened, before she moved her queen and said, “Checkmate!”

“What?” Ying looked back at the board in shock.

“I win!”

Oh. Sure enough, there was no escape now. Ying was well and truly beaten.

Again…

The audience cheered, and the scoreboard was updated. Ying got up to leave, only for Yaya to suddenly grab her arm.

“Ying! Are you okay?”

Ying ignored the sudden heart attacks – must be something to do with the gravity, obviously. “Yeah? Why do you ask?”

Yaya stood up too, looking at her in soft concern. “You seemed off today.”

“Huh? Are you saying I’m not good at chess?!”

“No, of course not! It’s just… are you unwell or something? You’ve been acting different all day.”

Wait, Yaya had noticed? Oh come on, surely she wasn’t that obvious. “I’m fine, I promise!”

Yaya put a hand up to Ying’s forehead. “You’re so warm. It’s not a fever, is it?”

“N-no…”

“Well then what is it? Oh… you’re not still weirded out from um… that secret I told you about the other day… are you?”

“Of course I’m not!” Ying said. “I’m just… I think I’m just tired, because uh… I used my powers too much today…”

Yaya frowned, obviously being aware that Ying had not used her powers at all today, but let go of her arm. “Go get some rest then!”

“Yeah, I think I will. See you later then…”

Ying hurried off, her head spinning.

No, she didn’t have any problem with Yaya being a lesbian… so why was it making her feel so weird? So stupidly weird that everyone noticed how weirdly she was acting? Was it a subconscious thing? Hopefully not! Ying liked to believe that she was a supportive person, and would support her best friend through anything.

She strode through the corridors so fast the whole world slowed down around her. Three things were on her mind. First of all, Yaya coming out to her, and whatever strange thoughts it was giving her. Secondly, the leaderboard – what had Commander Koko Ci meant by “matchmaking” anyway? Thirdly, the strange gravity problems and trying to prove that it was _not_ to do with suppressed sapphic love, or anything like that.

She would figure out these mysteries. She would get the answers. She was sure of it…


	5. Chapter 5

That night, lying in bed, Ying tried to remind herself how straight she was. As cringy as it was, she forced herself to reminisce about her old crush on Sonic the Hedgehog, and how several years ago her incessant daydreams about him had awakened the mushy, fluffy, romantic side of her heart. She forced herself to think about her friend Fang’s cute handsome face and surprisingly buff arms. Heh… she certainly was relieved to note that it did make her feel just the tiniest bit giddy.

See? Totally straight!

But…

She couldn’t help it. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the girl who was in this very room with her, just a few measly metres away.

Ugh. It was true that Yaya was gorgeous. Who didn’t know that? Yaya honestly had the most captivating eyes. And her smile… such a magnetic smile… and her voice too… and–

Ying turned over and desperately tried to force her old het crushes to resurface again. Come on! Yaya was her best friend, it wasn’t _like that_. And plus, the girl had only just come out as a lesbian, it didn’t mean she was into Ying, so it was best to get her mind off it. It was a sign of trust, no more.

As she slowly drifted off to sleep, her brain wandered on its own accord. Thinking about how Yaya had worried for her health earlier, wondering if she had a fever, being so genuinely supportive and caring the way that she always was.

It was so nice to have her there… and the way she would smile, and her sense of honour… everything about her personality that made it so easy to be her best friend, and made it feel so good too…

Yes, that was it. A pure appreciation of friendship. 100% platonic. Ying smiled into her pillow as she fell asleep, content with that thought.

But as her daydreams morphed into actual dreams, the reassurance of her love being fully friendship began to seep away.

For starters, Yaya was pretty. Like, _really_ pretty.

And that warmth, that feeling of gravity… it was so much stronger whenever Ying looked directly at Yaya, or heard her speak. Or when Yaya said her name. Or looked at her. Or…

Was this a dream? Ying didn’t know, only that she was on an alien planet somewhere, and the gravity here was strong, so strong. It was pulling her down to the floor so hard she could barely stand.

And there, in front of her, was Yaya. It almost took away her breath to see her floating there, smiling at her so full of affection. And now floating towards her, a hand outstretched. Now directly in front of her. Now gently stroking her cheek…

Her feet were still gluing her to the floor. But the thing was… her own mind was too. Everything was. She didn’t _want_ to move, she didn’t want to leave. Here inside a dream, without her inhibitions, she could do anything she wanted.

Like… like kissing a girl. Just to try it.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t before. But who hadn’t, really? If it was in a dream then it didn’t count. It wasn’t real.

The thing was… Yaya was real. Not this dream version of Yaya, obviously, but as a person, she was real… and even within a dream, Ying had never kissed anyone REAL before…

Well. There was a first time for everything, right?

-

She woke with a jolt. Sitting directly upright, she put a hand to her chest – her heart was beating a thousand times a minute.

What the… what had she just…

The dream wouldn’t leave her brain. She really had tried so, so desperately hard to _not_ do what she just did! And now, waking up having chewed her own lip raw in frustration…

_Crap._

She glanced over into the darkness at the other bed where Yaya was soundly sleeping – then just put her head in her hands.

It was no simple curiosity that led her to kiss her best friend in her dreams. Because now… ugh, now she wanted to kiss the real one too!

That wasn’t very straight of her, was it?

God, this was the most unfair thing in the universe. Perfect Yaya, so perfect she could even get straight girls to start crushing on her!

Ying sighed into her hands. If she really did… have a slight, small interest in Yaya… then there was the possibility that she wasn’t all that straight in the first place, despite her earlier aggressive denial.

She had thought it was Fang that she liked. And yes, she certainly had done. But it was more just a reaction to him having been treated so nicely by alien puberty, and had sort of fizzled out over time. She hadn’t truly cared in a while now. Though now that she thought about it, she definitely had felt all weirdly _extra gravity_ and _stuck to the floor_ when he was around back then too…

So… so had Boboiboy been right after all? This whole thing, had it just been a sign of Ying’s… hmm… blossoming emotions over her best friend, her best friend who was a _girl_ …?

In that case, how had she not noticed it until now?!


	6. Chapter 6

Ying’s impulsiveness was coming back to bite her again. She’d had the seemingly sensible thought process of _“Gopal is the oldest, therefore he has the most life experience out of all of us, therefore if I confide in anyone, it should be him”_ – and only now, seated in front of him, did she start to realize what a terrible idea this was.

But the problem was, she couldn’t just ask Yaya! Usually, Yaya was the one who would be her confidante, the one who was wise enough to help her out with any matters as long as they didn’t involve cooking. Yaya always knew what to do. But right now, Yaya was the only person who she really couldn’t ask, and all of her other friends only had about two brain cells each…

“So what’s up?” Gopal asked, sat cross-legged opposite her on the bed, absent-mindedly munching on a chocolate bar.

Ordinarily Ying would have berated him for getting crumbs all over her bed, but her heart just wasn’t in it. She had some spare time while Yaya was off doing _leaderboard stuff_ so she may as well use it. “I just found out something, and I need to tell you…”

“Oh, I already know. Yaya told me.”

“Wait – what?”

Gopal took another bite of his chocolate bar. “Yeah, she told me just earlier! It turns out that raptors had feathers, which means the Jurassic Park movies were wrong, and dinosaurs were just like big chickens. Huh, I wonder if they taste like chicken too?”

Ying just stared for several seconds. “…What are you talking about?!”

“Was that… was that not what you were going to tell me?”

“No!”

“Oh, right…”

Ying took a deep breath. “I was going to tell you that… well…” She didn’t even know where to start – as usual, she hadn’t exactly planned this out beforehand. “Can I ask you something? Do you think Yaya is perfect?”

Gopal didn’t need to even think. “Obviously not. Her cookies, remember?”

“Aside from the cookies, I mean.”

“Hmm…” He munched his chocolate bar in silence for a few seconds, quietly contemplating. “Yeah, probably.”

“I agree. She’s so perfect that I… um… Look, what I’m about to tell you is secret, and you can’t tell anyone, okay?”

Gopal nodded. “Okay!”

“Fine. I’ve… kind of started having a crush on Yaya.”

“Yeah, I know. So what’s the secret? Tell me!”

Ying just stared for several seconds.

“Seriously, what’s the secret?”

“Gopal! That _was_ the secret!”

“OH!” He quickly plastered a grin on his face. “Oh right! Uh – ahh, what a surprise! I definitely had no idea already or anything, hahaha…”

“You did, didn’t you?!”

“Well don’t blame me! Boboiboy told me!”

“Ohhh, that little…” She made up her mind to give Boboiboy a good telling-off the next time she saw him. “Anyway, I just really wanted to tell someone! This is all new for me, Gopal! Yaya’s a girl! What am I supposed to do?”

Gopal shrugged. “Well at least she’s not an alien, so it doesn’t make you a furry.”

“Hehe, yep! Definitely not a furry!” Ying carefully did not mention a word about Sonic.

“So maybe you should tell her.”

“I can’t do that! What if it weirds her out?”

“Then I’ll tell her something weird too, which will distract her from anything weird that you tell her. I know! You tell her you like her, and then I’ll immediately use my transformation powers to change cooked chicken into cooked dinosaur so that I can see how it tastes.”

Ying rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we’re not doing that.”

“Where is Yaya anyway?” Gopal asked, looking around. “Aren’t you usually always with her?”

“She’s working on something to do with the leaderboard…” Ying sighed and leaned on her hands. “Not that it matters when Yaya is so _perfect_ and _amazing_ , she’ll always be top of the leaderboard, no one else will ever be good enough to beat her…”

“Except you, maybe.”

“You really think so?”

Gopal broke the rest of his chocolate bar into two and handed one of the pieces to Ying. “Yeah, of course! Sometimes you do beat Yaya at exams, don’t you? Not very often, but it happens! You can totally do it again! You just need some energy.”

Huh, that was surprisingly nice of him to say – and he was right, wasn’t he? She gladly took the chocolate. “Thank you Gopal!”

“Don’t make this chocolate go to waste, okay? Beat Yaya academically and knock her off her pedestal, then you can ask her out for real!”

Ying nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, maybe I will do that! I’ll make sure _my_ name is at the top of that leaderboard! That will give me the courage I need!”

“That’s the spirit! And now, if you don’t mind…” Gopal pointed a finger gun at his half of the chocolate. _“Cooked dinosaur transformation!”_

The chocolate transformed into something vaguely resembling cooked chicken but smelling much worse. Ying scrambled back in disgust. “Ew, is that really dinosaur?!”

“Yup! And I’m going to be the first human to find out how it tastes!” He stuffed it into his mouth all in one go. Within a few seconds his face had gone an unsettling shade of green.

“Uh… Gopal? You okay?”

“I… I think I shouldn’t have eaten something that’s over 65 million years old…” He got to his feet and headed for the door at top speed. “I gotta go throw up now but BYE YING, GOOD LUCK, SEE YOU LATER!!”

Oh Gopal, him and his shenanigans…

Ying ate her own end of the chocolate bar, thinking hard. Right – she had to study and be as smart as she could. If she kept thinking of Yaya as perfect, she’d never be able to make a real move! Knocking her down a grade was probably the best idea.

Huh… what had Commander Koko Ci meant by “matchmaking”, though? It was still on Ying’s mind. Hopefully she would find out soon enough.


	7. Chapter 7

Yaya burst into the library. “Ying! The leaderboard is ready! Let me show you!”

Without waiting for a reply, she took Ying’s hand and began pulling her towards the door. Ying, already being affected by the old “extra gravity” excuse that was probably better explained as _attraction_ , fought off a blush – sure, it wasn’t unusual for Yaya to hold her hand, but now that she was hyperaware of it, it just… it was…

“Ta-da!”

Yaya stopped in the corridor and gestured at the huge electric leaderboard taking up most of the wall. At the moment it showed that in first place was Yaya, and the rest was filled with question marks.

Ying stared up at it. “Oh… so how is the rest of the leaderboard going to be calculated?”

“That’s what I’m going to tell you!” Yaya said, giggling a little. “Have you heard of the 1000 Page Exam?”

Ying’s blood ran cold – of course she’d heard of it. “The legendary intergalactic exam paper than no one has ever managed to pass with perfect marks?”

“Yep, that one! Well guess what? I took the exam!”

“Wait, really? You took the actual, real, 1000 Page Exam?!”

Yaya nodded. “It was every bit as difficult as the legends say. It was even harder than any exams Papa Zola has given us at school…”

Wow. If that was the case, then it truly must be impossible.

“…Anyway, my result was 99.8%.”

“Really? That’s amazing!”

“Thank you!” Yaya smiled at her so sweetly, Ying began wondering how she had taken so long to notice her crush on her – now that she had realized it, it was so obvious. Melting inside like a wax candle was not the usual response to seeing a friend smile at you, after all.

“So how are the rest of us going to be ranked on the leaderboard?”

“Simple. You all have to take the exam too!”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Ying said, taking a step back in shock. “You… you mean… if we want to be on the leaderboard, we have to take the infamous, notorious, absolutely impossible 1000 Page Exam???”

“Yes!”

“Oh…”

Just the thought of it had her weaker at the knees than any dumb crush could ever make her. She was nowhere near old and wise enough to take the exam yet. She hadn’t studied anywhere near enough!

“It’ll be okay!” Yaya said, giving her a nudge with her elbow. “After all, I did it, didn’t I? So you can do it too. And you’ll have plenty of time to prepare – the exam won’t be held for everyone for another few weeks.”

“Weeks? But it takes decades to prepare for that exam!”

“There’s a prize incentive for whoever gets the highest result after me, will that make you feel better?”

“Well, that depends on what the prize is…” Ying looked back up at the leaderboard, wondering what prize could possibly be worth taking the most terrifying exam in history.

“A chance to gain a few IQ points off me!”

“Huh? How would that work? Are you going to donate a bit of your brain to this runner-up?”

Yaya laughed. “No, of course not! It’s more like an honorary thing, since I’m quite famous now for being the Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS and people look up to me and want to be more like me. So the runner-up will get the chance to uh… hmm… how did I describe it to the Commander? Absorb some of my powerful, legendary knowledge through… well… he suggested a high five… but I suppose there’s also…”

“Also what?” Ying asked.

Yaya’s face was rapidly turning a similar shade of pink to her headscarf. “Well there’s hugging! And… um… bestowing the charm of my knowledge through um… it sounds a bit Disney-ish, but… a kiss? Depending on what the runner-up wants! And how cute they are…”

Ying’s face must have been turning that very same shade of pink – the blocks were all falling into place now. _Matchmaking_. Oh…

“I hope it’s not a boy,” Yaya said quickly. “You know, because of, uh, that thing I told you the other day? If it is then I’ll go for the hug or the high five. But still, I hope it’s a girl… so um… you’d better do your best, alright?” Giving her a quick pat on the arm, she flashed a smile and then scampered off.

It took a few seconds for Ying to catch the implications of what Yaya had just said to her.

_You’d better do your best, alright?_

Oh… did that mean…? Was that… subtle… _flirting?_

It was now becoming clear. Yaya was using this whole leaderboard thing as an excuse to pick up a nerdy girlfriend. No wonder the Commander had called it matchmaking.

And who was the girl most likely to be runner-up? Ying herself, of course.

Oh, well now she had to do it.

Looking at the empty spot beside rank #2 on the leaderboard, she clenched her fists and made up her mind. It didn’t matter how tough this exam was. She was going to study her heart out, until she could study no more. And no matter what, she was going to get that #2 spot on the leaderboard.

She had to prove herself.

And then… well, and then she might not have to limit herself to dreams. She might get to kiss the _real_ Yaya…


	8. Chapter 8

Over the following day, the news about the 1000 Page Exam spread throughout TAPOPS. Of course, while the official version of the prize was a high five, the unofficial prize was rapidly becoming common knowledge too. Young TAPOPS members everywhere raced to the library to begin studying as much as they possibly could.

Ying just watched all these poor fools in glee. She had already used her time manipulation powers to slow everyone else down so that she could take out as many library books as possible and bring them back to her room before anyone else could get hold of them. She could even use her powers to give herself more time for studying, too. And, being pretty much at the same level of intellect as Yaya already, she had a head start!

Hopefully it shouldn’t be too difficult to get second place…

The most surprising part of everything was when Ying came across Fang, of all people, in the library. He sat in the corner, a pile of books open in front of him, studying hard.

“HI FANG!” She slammed her hands down on the table, making him jump. “What are you doing?”

“Sheesh, don’t do that!” he said, moody as always. “You gave me a heart attack! Anyway, what do you think it looks like I’m doing?! Obviously I’m studying for the 1000 Page Exam!”

“Wait, you’re doing the exam too? Why?”

“I have to get on that leaderboard. Maybe then I’ll actually be popular…”

Ying struggled not to laugh. “Well maybe with some hard work you’ll end up third place!”

“Excuse me? I’m aiming for second place, thank you very much!”

The laugher quickly transformed into rage – there was no way Ying was letting that happen. “How can you even say such a thing? Don’t you know it’s obviously ME who’ll be second place?”

Fang glared at her, his alien eyes looking more unsettling than usual. “The higher I get up that leaderboard, the more people will pay attention to me, and then I’ll finally be more popular than that… that annoying brat…”

Hah, if anyone was an “annoying brat”, it was Fang himself, though Ying decided not to say so out loud. “So you don’t even care about Yaya’s high five? Such a waste! Leave second place to people who actually want the prize!”

“Huh? Oh yeah, about that, Yaya told me that if I do come second, she’ll change the prize so that I actually get a high five from um… well okay, he’s not actually _that_ much of an annoying brat. Or maybe it’ll be a hug. Or a… well, you know…” He turned back to his book, blushing.

Taking approximately two seconds to get over any lingering jealousy at the thought of someone else getting to kiss this cute alien, Ying grinned and poked him in the arm. “Aww. You could just ask the annoying brat nicely, no need for the leaderboard.”

To her surprise, he grinned back. “And you could just ask Yaya nicely, but you won’t, will you?”

Oh come on, did everyone know about her crush on Yaya?! This was ridiculous! And even more ridiculous was how, one by one, all her friends seemed to be kicking down the walls of their closet, all within the very same week…

“I don’t need to,” she said. “I know I’m the one who’ll be second place. I’ll prove it.”

“Hah, we’ll see about that.”

“And Fang… you know if you, um, high five or whatever your annoying brat, you’re more likely to _lose_ IQ points than gain them, right? He’s not the brightest…”

He blushed harder. “Will you go away and let me study?”

“Sure. See you later, third place!” She gave him a wink and then rushed off.

Anyway, she had revision to be doing too. Yes, it was almost certain that she would be second, but what if she let her guard down and ended up doing worse in the exam than normal? She wasn’t sure she could ever live with the grief and guilt. And Yaya might be disappointed too…

No, she couldn’t let that happen. She _wouldn’t_ let that happen. Second place was going to be hers, even if it killed her!

Zooming back to her room, she sat down and pulled out one of the many dozens of heavy tomes from the library. Right… time to get going.


	9. Chapter 9

“Still studying?” Yaya asked at 11PM.

“I have to.” Ying lifted her drowsy eyes from the book she was currently absorbed in. “I can’t take any chances. And it’s only 11PM, I’ve studied till way later than this before!”

“Only 11PM? Hmm… I guess the thing must have happened again then…”

“Huh? What thing?”

Yaya went and sat down beside her. “I lose track of time a lot these days. I know, it’s surprising for someone as organized as me! But I think I worked out the reason. It seems to happen more when I spend time with you, so… maybe it’s your powers? Maybe you use them without realizing sometimes!”

Ying froze, all too aware of the heat creeping up her neck. “W… what?”

“And I was talking to Boboiboy about it earlier, and he mentioned something very interesting about it…”

“Ahahaha… what did he say?”

“He said that you told him something similar! That apparently I use my gravity powers without realizing.”

“Oh, really?” Ying silently vowed to kill him.

“Yep! Isn’t that a funny coincidence?”

“Y-yeah. Coincidence. Absolutely.”

“And then he said something uh… well never mind, I told him to go do some homework.”

Ying could guess what he had said anyway – probably the same thing as he had said to her. _Are you sure you’re not just in love with her?_ Huh, he certainly was more perceptive than he seemed, wasn’t he?

For the first time, Ying truly allowed herself to wonder if Yaya felt the same way about her. What other reason did she have for this whole matchmaking leaderboard thing anyway? Why else would her sense of time perception be so off? Why else would she be so clingy, cuddly, blushy…?

“Do you want some help?” Yaya asked.

It snapped Ying out of her dumb daydreams and back into reality. “What? No, I don’t need your help!”

“But–”

“I can do this myself! I’m just as smart as you, you know!”

“Hmph, okay…” Yaya stood up and walked off again.

Oops… had that been a bit harsh? Ying still remembered her conversation with Gopal – she wasn’t going to make any move until she had proven that she could match Yaya’s academic skill. And she didn’t need Yaya’s help with it!

Oh come on. These mixed feelings were just so impossible to deal with…

It didn’t matter – now was not the time to be dealing with them. That came _after_ the 1000 Page Exam. For now, the only thing she needed to focus on was studying.

-

For the next week, Ying threw herself into revision like she had never done before. At every possible moment she strove to keep her mind off anything that wouldn’t be on the exam. While eating, while exercising, while resting… she was always studying.

She wasn’t even the only one. Plenty of young TAPOPS members were wandering around the corridors like zombies, staring at flashcards or books in their hands, desperately trying to get some knowledge into their brains. It seemed that everyone wanted to get onto that leaderboard, not necessarily second place, but _somewhere_ on it, as a matter of honour, of prestige.

So much of it was so complicated. Why was there so much quantum physics in the syllabus?! Electrons and waves and particles and quanta and probability…

On the bright side, it was getting slightly easier for Ying to understand the scientific aspects of her powers. It turned out that gravity and time really weren’t all that different after all – kind of like two sides of the same coin.

According to physics, time tended to slow down wherever gravity’s pull was strongest…

She tried not to let her mind dwell on that.


	10. Chapter 10

Ying had no idea how late it was. The exam was going to be the next morning, and she was half convinced that staying up all night studying would be the best course of action. Of course, logically, she knew that sleep was a better idea, but she simply wasn’t awake enough to make a good decision about it right now…

The dim lamp on the other side of the room flicked on – Yaya must have woken up.

“Ying? Are you still awake? What time is it?”

Ying glanced at her watch, only to remember that it was a _power watch_ , silly her. She looked at the clock. “Uh… definitely not 3AM.”

“3AM?! You should get some sleep!”

“I’m fine, don’t worry! You go back to sleep, I’ll see you in the morning.”

To her annoyance, Yaya did not get back to sleep. Instead she got up from her bed and walked over. “You must be so exhausted, you’ve been revising pretty much non-stop for days now!”

“Pffff, we did that all the time already anyway…”

“No we didn’t! We took breaks and had fun too! And we got a decent amount of sleep!”

Ying tried to get her focus back on her work. “Stop worrying about me!”

“I’m your best friend, isn’t it my job to worry?” Yaya put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re so tense…”

“I’m not tense. Just… just give me five minutes. Or hours. I’ll go to sleep soon, I swear.”

“Ying…” Yaya’s voice was soft. “You’re really working yourself too hard… Have you at least had some snacks? Do you want some cookies?”

“No thanks!” Ying said hastily. “No cookies! Uh… I mean… I already had snacks, haha…”

Yaya gave her shoulder a gentle rub. “Do you at least want a massage? You need to relax a little!”

A massage? From Yaya? Well of course she wanted that! But on the other hand, she couldn’t let anything distract her from her work.

She tried to think of a polite way to refuse. Her brain was running blank. Huh, maybe she really had been studying for too long? In that case… a nice shoulder massage might actually _help_ with getting back into the study zone… right…?

“Fine,” she said, taking off her glasses and giving her eyes a much needed rub.

“Okay. Just close your eyes and relax, and try not to think about studying for a few minutes.”

Ying leaned on the table, resting her head down on her arms, and shut her eyes. Hopefully she wouldn’t fall asleep like this.

Yaya began pressing her shoulders, oh so lightly, less like an actual massage and more like… well, almost more like a gesture of encouragement and support. It quickly became apparent to Ying that she was _not_ going to fall asleep – not when it was making her this flustered.

Oh come on! It wasn’t like she hadn’t had massages before. Even from Yaya. But something about this was… different somehow. Softer, slower, sensual, in a room so warm and dark and comfortable, in the middle of the night, with no sounds but their own quiet breaths…

“How is it?” Yaya asked.

Ying did not even open her eyes. “N-nice…”

“Oh good! Should I keep going then?”

“Yes please…”

“Okay then, I will! I’m glad it’s helping.”

Oh, it was helping alright – she could really get used to this. “You know, you can be less, um… dainty?”

Yaya paused for a second. “Are you sure? I was trying to be light-handed, because I know my powers make me really strong sometimes, apparently without meaning it, since you’ve said that I use my powers by accident around you… I just didn’t want to hurt you! Do you really want me to be less light?”

“Mhm.”

“Alright then…”

There, that was better. A real, proper massage. Oddly enough, while it certainly was relieving the tension in her shoulders, it didn’t exactly do much to relax her. Not when her heart kept beating faster and faster.

“Um… Ying?” Yaya had paused again, her hands resting in place.

“Yeah?” Her heart leapt right up into her throat. What was Yaya going to say?

“Good luck for the exam tomorrow.”

Oh, right. “Thanks, I–”

She stopped abruptly. Yaya had taken a step closer and now slid her arms around Ying, leaning down and giving her a light peck on the cheek. Then she wrapped her arms round tighter and just rested her head against Ying’s neck, cuddling her close.

Ying stopped breathing for several seconds.

As long as they had been best friends, as physically affectionate as they were with each other, Yaya had never been _quite_ that… hmm… romantic about it.

All thoughts of studying were gone from Ying’s mind. She stayed as still as possible, not even daring to move, not wanting to ruin this moment.

How long did they stay there like that? She wasn’t sure. It only vaguely registered when Yaya eventually let go and went back to sleep, whispering a gentle, “Goodnight!” into her ear before doing so.

Well, there was no way Ying could get back to studying now.

She shut the book and just rested her head on the desk, not bothering to move from her spot before falling asleep.

The past several nights she had been dreaming about exams and studies – when she had managed to actually get some sleep, that was. But now? It seemed that the Yaya dreams were back. That cuddle simply would not leave her brain, whether awake or not…


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:D

Only two hours left until the 1000 Page Exam. Ying had tried to cram in some last minute revision, but nothing was going into her brain at all. Instead she paced around her room and silently ran through everything that she could remember.

“Ying?” Yaya entered the room, a tray full of cookies. “I made some cookies for you to have for breakfast! It’s a big day today, you’ll need food.”

“It’s okay, I already ate!” Ying replied quickly, taking several large steps back.

“Are you sure you don’t want any?”

“I’m sure! I’m not hungry at all, I’m super nervous for the exam, if I ate anything else I’d be sick…”

“Aw, okay then.” Yaya put the cookies down on the table, thank goodness. Eating one of those horrible things and passing out right before the exam was _not_ the best of ideas. “Need anything else?”

Ying shook her head. “All I need right now is to get this exam over and done with! Then I can finally stop worrying about it.”

“Is it… is it really a big deal to you?”

“Of course! You get to be Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS, so at the very least I should get to be second on the leaderboard.”

“And, um… you really want that high five, hm?”

Ying, having still been pacing, slowed to a stop. Of course… the official prize was a high five. How was she supposed to tell Yaya she wanted a kiss instead?

Her blushing face must have given it away.

“It’s not the high five you want, is it?” Yaya asked. “Is it… um… the hug?”

Ying couldn’t even look at her. “You know exactly what I want, don’t you?”

“Aww, Ying! You want a kiss! _Yiiiiing!_ That’s so sweet!” Yaya ran over and pulled her into a sudden hug. “Do you really like me?”

Now was not the time to be thinking about all this! Now was the time to be preparing for the exam! Ying pulled back for a second… only to give in and allow herself to be enveloped in Yaya’s arms, so strong yet so gentle, breathing in some flowery perfume. How could she help it?

“I think so,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. She still wasn’t very accustomed to actually acknowledging her feelings for another girl yet, after all. It was nerve-wracking.

“I like you too,” Yaya admitted. “This whole leaderboard thing, actually, it was… well when I told Commander Koko Ci, he said it sounded like an excuse for, um…”

“Matchmaking?”

Yaya giggled. “Yeah, that’s it!”

Still drowning in the words _I like you too_ , Ying had no idea what to say or do. Her brain was still on revision mode. The exam was just a few hours away. It was like a whirlwind in her mind – she had no space to process the fact that the girl she liked _actually liked her back_.

Yaya pulled back a little, gazing at Ying thoughtfully and brushing a few strands of her fringe out of her eyes. “Do you think you’re ready for the exam? We can… um… talk about this all afterwards, if you want…”

Ying just nodded.

“Okay, good! Good luck! Y-you’ll do amazing…”

Yeah, she sure hoped so.

“Hey, Ying? Do you… mind if I…?”

Now Yaya was looking nervous. She still had one hand in Ying’s hair, fingers aimlessly fiddling with loose strands. Had she – had she moved closer? It looked like it. And it looked like she was tentatively, somewhat awkwardly, dropping her gaze down away from Ying’s eyes and to her lips instead…

Ying knew exactly what was going to happen before it did.

Yaya kissed her.

Yaya really, actually, _kissed_ her.

Wow…

For at least a few seconds Ying did not move a single muscle, holding her breath. This was nothing like in her dream. This was physical, so real, in a way that it had never been in anything she had ever imagined. She could _feel_ everything.

It was slow and soft, as it always was whenever Yaya did anything. Yet that gravity… that gravity was getting stronger too, pulling Ying in, the way that gravity always did with time…

Wait! Time!

She didn’t have time for this!

She stepped back and pulled herself out of Yaya’s grasp. “I don’t have time for kissing right now!”

Yaya glanced at the clock. “There’s still two hours to go…”

“No, I mean… I don’t… I’m not in the right frame of mind…” She ran a hand through her hair – noting that it did not feel as good as when Yaya had done it to her just now. “I’m trying to focus on studying! On what I’ve revised! I… I can’t go getting distracted. N-not now.”

Yaya’s face fell somewhat. “Okay…”

“Why did you do it now anyway? Why not after the exam?”

“Hehe… for luck?”

Ying just sighed. Yaya didn’t lie often, but when she did, it was pretty obvious.

“Fine,” Yaya said, looking at the ground nervously. “To tell the truth, I’ve never kissed anyone before and I wanted it to be you first… because I like you and I got pretty sure recently that you like me too! So I was just… you know… making sure that it was you first. Just in case someone else comes second in the exam, and…”

Any sense of peace and tranquillity from the kiss rushed out of Ying at lightspeed. “Excuse me?”

“What?”

“You don’t trust that I can come second, huh?!”

“No, it’s not like that!” Yaya said quickly. “Of course I do! B-but… I just didn’t want to take any chances! There’s lots of smart young TAPOPS members aside from the two of us, and what if you just… um… have a bad day or something? And someone else gets the prize and decides not to ask for the high five? I… Oh Ying, please don’t be mad at me!”

Ying began marching over to the door – she had to get away from here. “I don’t have time to be mad at you. But I totally still am, though.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Tell me later! I don’t have time!”

She slammed the door open and went through.

Right… two hours until the exam. Where to go? The library? A casual spacewalk? Ask Ochobot to teleport her to earth for a while?

Well, wherever she went, she had to keep her mind away from Yaya. Away from the fact that Yaya had just kissed her. Away from the fact that she was kind of mad at Yaya for sort of insulting her intelligence, for not having enough faith in her despite being her best friend and maybe-now-sort-of-girlfriend…

No! No more thinking about Yaya.

Not for now, anyway.


	12. Chapter 12

With the library full to the brim, Ying paced around the corridors at near lightspeed until she accidentally ran smack into Gopal, who thankfully had been walking much slower and didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

“Gopal!” She adjusted her hat from where it had gone askew. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be revising?”

“Shouldn’t _you_ be revising?” he asked.

“I am! Me walking around like that is my version of last-minute studying!”

“Oh.” He shrugged. “Me walking around like this is just me being lazy and not wanting to revise.”

“Well why not?”

“Because it’s boring! And hard! And I know I’m not going to get on the leaderboard anyway, so what’s the point? If I want to high five Yaya I can just ask her, she won’t say no. Well, unless I have rotten dinosaur food on my hands or something.”

Ying just looked at her friend in wonder – how carefree must Gopal feel, to not need to force himself to study to the death! What an existence. Really, intelligence was almost a prison of its own creation. You got smart, and then, wanting to prove it, kept striving to get even smarter, and on and on it went until you died. And Gopal had just opted out of all that.

In a way, he was wiser than all of them…

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You look really miserable.”

How could Ying even begin to explain? She wanted to, though – Gopal and Yaya were at complete opposite ends of a spectrum. She wasn’t exactly sure what that spectrum was, probably cooking ability or something. But with Yaya on one end and Gopal on the other, Ying couldn’t help but feel like talking to Gopal about things might be a good idea, just to get a fresh perspective.

“None of it matters, does it?” she said. “The exam, the leaderboard – all of it! The concept of smartness! Isn’t it all made up? I’ve been slaving away over the past week just to get as smart as possible, and what for? Because I wanted to be better than everyone else, that’s all! And because I wanted to kiss Yaya! But she already did because she doesn’t believe I can earn it!”

“Whoa whoa whoa wait – what???”

“She… she likes me too, but she went and kissed me before I even got second place on the leaderboard, ‘just in case’. Which sucks.”

Gopal frowned for a few seconds. “I am so confused right now.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Huh, maybe Yaya just doesn’t care about the exam that much.”

“What do you mean? It’s an exam! She always cares about exams!”

“But she’s already done the exam,” Gopal said. “If she likes you, then maybe she doesn’t even care how well you do in it. I mean, do you only like her because she’s good at exams?”

“Of course not!”

“Yeah, so maybe the leaderboard doesn’t even matter to her, and the whole thing was just an excuse.”

Ying paused in thought. Even the Commander had just called it an “excuse for matchmaking”, hadn’t he? It was true that Yaya liked Ying regardless of her exam results.

And when Yaya had come out to her… she had admitted to not feeling “perfect” anymore. Everyone always just saw her for her brains and her exam results, and not for who she really was as a _person_. Maybe Gopal was right, maybe none of this leaderboard stuff mattered to Yaya, all this academia and studying, the appreciation she got from that wasn’t making her happy – she just wanted Ying to love her! Because Ying _didn’t_ love her for her exam results, she loved her because they were friends!

“Ying?” Gopal waved a hand in front of her face. “Earth to Ying? Well not earth, because this is technically a space station, but you know what I mean.”

Ying allowed herself a grin. “You’re right, Yaya doesn’t care about the leaderboard. Forget the prize, I already got the prize anyway, Yaya already likes me – this exam is nothing to do with her. I just need to do the best I can, and not because of her. I need to make myself proud! For me!”

Gopal nodded. “And for Captain Papa Zola!”

“Uh… yeah! Point is, that’s enough of me always relating studies and exams back to Yaya all the time. No more weird rivalry. I’m doing this and it has nothing to do with her. And then once this exam is over, I can…”

She trailed off, thinking. Then what? What was she going to say to Yaya? Sorry for taking the exam too seriously? Well, only if Yaya said sorry for doubting Ying’s intelligence… But then again, maybe Yaya was just impatient, wanting a kiss _now_ rather than having to wait for the 8-hour exam to be over.

And maybe it had been a good luck charm, who knew…

“…then once this is over, I’ll go kiss her properly,” Ying said finally. “Whether I earned it or not. Which I totally will, I’m sure. Thank you Gopal.”

“Huh? Thank you for what?”

“For just…!” She gestured vaguely at him, not even knowing what she meant. “Being Gopal!”

“Of course! I’m awesome.” He did the weird Papa Zola-style dab thing.

“…Okay never mind actually. Anyway I need to go do some last minute pacing and revising – good luck for the exam!”

“Good luck to you too!”

“See you once it’s over.” She walked past him and continued down the corridor.

Having calmed down somewhat, it was much easier now for her brain to focus on what it needed to. Ah yes, electron shells, orbits, quarks… All the revision and studying she had done was paying off. All the knowledge was seeping back into her brain, thank goodness.

Yeah. She could do this.


	13. Chapter 13

The exam paper sat on the desk about 10 centimetres tall. Did they really only have 8 hours to complete a stack of pages that large? That was more than one page per minute! And Ying wasn’t even allowed to use her time manipulation powers for this!

She noticed with relief that everyone else in the exam hall seemed so much more nervous than she was. A few people were already crying, despite the exam not even having started yet. Hopefully they’d stay that nervous and distracted, and she’d feel better enough in comparison that she could do as well as she hoped she would.

Papa Zola gave the big hourglass at the front of the room a flip to get the sand trickling. “Your time starts now!”

Ying immediately picked up her pen and began writing away at top speed. (Well, top non-power speed anyway.) There wouldn’t be any time to check her answers through at the end – she would just have to hope she’d done well enough the first time round.

At least these first questions had started off pretty easy, though it certainly would get a lot harder later on…

-

20 minutes to go. Ying’s brain was frying from having stayed in such concentration for so long. There was audible weeping from every direction around her, as fellow students gave up in despair, but she did not let it distract her. Only one question left now, an essay question.

Oh? It was about the curvature of spacetime!

That was absolutely perfect! Ying had been reading up on that just last night – she was an expert. It was all about the effect that gravity and time had on each other, and how human/alien understanding of the 4D universe was limited and…

She scribbled out as much as she could think of, keenly aware of the sand in the hourglass filling up fast. 15 minutes left… now 10 minutes… now only 5 minutes…

These past few weeks, they had all led up to this. Had she done well enough? Had she done enough to make herself proud? To prove herself?

“Aaaaand time is up!” Papa Zola boomed from the front of the room. “Put your pens down! If I see anyone still writing then you will be disqualified!”

Ying put her pen down and sat back in her chair, finally allowing herself to stretch and take a deep breath. Phew – it was over. Nothing else could be done now.

Almost all at once, a sense of exhaustion hit her. What a week it had been! Her eyes almost started closing on their own accord, so tired she was from constantly working her brain. She most definitely needed a bit of a break from studying for a while.

-

“How did it go?” Yaya asked, leaping to her feet to greet Ying as soon as she entered the room.

“I think it went okay!” Ying said. “At least, I hope so!”

“That’s good! I’m super proud!” Yaya beamed at her for a second, but then her smile fell away. “Oh, and about this morning… I’m sorry for not having faith in you, I just–”

Ying glomped her in a hug before she could even think about what she was doing. “Don’t worry about it!”

“Huh? You’re not still mad at me?”

“No, it’s okay.” Ying cuddled her even tighter. “Anyway, I feel like I’m too tired to be mad, I haven’t had much sleep for the past week and I’m kind of dying, so I don’t have the energy to be mad, I just want to rest now…”

“Of course!” Yaya pulled away, then suddenly used her gravity powers to–

Okay, wow. Ying had not been expecting Yaya to gravitationally _lift her up into the air and put her down on her bed_. Well… that was one way to use gravity powers…

“You should get some sleep!” Yaya continued. “The exams are going to be marked overnight by computer and the leaderboard will be updated tomorrow morning. Until then just get some rest! You’ve earned it.”

Ying lay back against the pillows and let herself mentally chill out a bit. About to close her eyes, she noticed that Yaya had come over and stood looking down at her, a big smile on her face. She took off Ying’s glasses and hat and put them aside.

“Do you need me to get you any food or anything?” she asked.

Well, that certainly meant cookies. “No thanks, I’m fine.”

“Did they provide snacks during the exam?”

“Yes, they did.”

“That’s good! I’ll let you rest, then… um… see you in the morning…”

For a second she leaned down and gave Ying the lightest of kisses on the nose, then blushed hard and ran off.

Oh yes… tomorrow morning they could sort out whatever they were going to do about the whole sort-of-being-girlfriends thing. Right now Ying did not have the brain energy for it, so she was glad for a bit of space.

Closing her eyes and drifting off, she thought about the leaderboard. Had she made it to second place?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow's chapter will probably be the last one. Fitting for this fic to end on Valentine's Day, huh? :D


	14. Chapter 14

Ying was not second place.

The leaderboard had been updated, and despite being exhausted, she’d woken up at 4AM just to go and see it as soon as the lights flickered on. Yaya, equally as eager to know the results, joined her.

And the leaderboard showed that she was not in second place.

No – she was in _first_ place.

Right at the top of the leaderboard. Her name was in the #1 spot, bright and clear.

The second place spot was taken by _Yaya_.

Ying closed her eyes, opened them again, and looked back at the board. Nope – she was still in first place. She slapped her face a few times. Still first place. She spun around, screwed her eyes shut tight, counted to 10, then opened them.

Still. First. Place.

She simply had no words.

“Ah, I see you’ve noticed the leaderboard results?”

She turned to see Commander Koko Ci walking up towards them, an uncharacteristic grin on his face.

“Commander…” Still in complete shock, she tried to get her voice to work. “This leaderboard… is it… accurate?”

“The leaderboard is ranked based on your results in the 1000 Page Exam,” he said. “Yaya’s score was 99.8%, while yours was 99.80001%. Therefore you are now the current Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS, and if Yaya wants to overtake you again, she will have to retake the exam.”

Wow.

_Wow._

She had actually beaten Yaya?!

It really wasn’t sinking in. She couldn’t stop a grin from spreading over her face, all the exhaustion washing away within a few seconds. She had really done it! She had worked hard enough to prove herself and actually knock Yaya down from her pedestal for once!

“I’M THE OFFICIAL SMARTEST YOUNG MEMBER OF TAPOPS!” She leapt up and down, full of energy now and raring to go. “I DID IT! I GOT FIRST PLACE IN THE EXAM! I’M TOP OF THE LEADERBOARD! I’M…”

Noticing Yaya still standing there in a stunned silence, she trailed off.

Oh boy. Yaya was surely _not_ going to take this well.

“Uh… Yaya?” She went over and gave her a poke. “Are you okay?”

Yaya finally tore her eyes away from the leaderboard and looked at Ying. “I…”

“Yes?”

It sounded like she was talking through gritted teeth. “I’m… _second… place?”_

“By only 0.00001%!”

For several long seconds Yaya just glared, absolute rage in her eyes. It looked like she was trying very, very hard not to use her gravity to strangle Ying to death, Darth Vader-style.

After what seemed like forever, she managed to gulp down her fury. “W-well done Ying… Congratulations…”

“Aw, thank you!”

Yaya lowered her voice to practically a growl all of a sudden. _“But I’ll get my spot back soon, don’t you worry…”_

Okay, that was a little menacing. A lot menacing, actually.

And… and kinda hot…

“But well done on doing such a good job!” Yaya continued, her voice back to normal. She plastered a big smile on her face. “It’s nice that we’re the top two spots, right?”

Commander Koko Ci stood in front of them, putting on a pair of sunglasses. “So are you going to officially high five? Or should I… ahem… leave you alone to do it…”

Yaya blushed bright pink. “Oh! Well, um, about that…”

“Never mind, I don’t want to know. I’m leaving. Goodbye. And well done, Lance Corporal Ying.”

He turned around and walked off.

Yaya waited until he was out of sight before clutching Ying’s hands and giggling. “You know what? I think it worked! Remember when I um… when I kissed you, and lied and said it was for good luck? Well it turned out to be for good luck anyway because you did really well on this exam!”

“Excuse me, you think I did well because of _luck?”_ Ying retorted. “I did well because of my own hard work!”

“I…” Yaya facepalmed. “Oh, I said the wrong thing again, didn’t I? Ahhh I’m so sorry Ying!”

Something about seeing Yaya apologizing, being so open and impulsive and vulnerable with her, it made it impossible to be mad at her. Ying put a smile back on her face. “Don’t worry! I like it when you say silly, annoying stuff like that! It reminds me that you’re not actually a perfect goody-two-shoes all the time, even if everyone else thinks you are.”

“Aww! You’re so cute, Ying!” Yaya booped her on the nose. “I don’t think it’s possible for me to be perfect around you. You make me so… hmm…”

“Speechless?” Ying suggested, grinning at her.

“Yeah! Speechless!”

“So… now that I’m the Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS, do you want my high five?”

Yaya pouted. “Well back when it was me who was the smartest, I kissed you, so it’s only fair if you do the same for me now…”

Ying did not bother to reply. Stepping right up close, she kissed her sweet girlfriend right on the lips.

It was a little awkward at first – evidently, as smart as they both were, neither of them really knew the first thing about kissing. But it was nice all the same, and Ying wrapped her arms around Yaya to hold her close. Feeling Yaya do the same in return… oh, her heart was melting. She pushed her glasses up out of the way and kissed her deeply. The gravity was getting strong in here, and time was slowing down too…

Thank goodness it was 4AM and no one else was around to interrupt them. Snogging in the corridors was definitely not a very goody-two-shoes sort of thing to be doing, after all.

Ying only noticed a little too late that she had been holding her breath for no apparent reason, and quickly stepped back to catch some air. Yaya giggled at her – ugh, her laughter was so cute. How had Ying ever thought she was straight again?! Thinking about it now, there was no way she was anything but pan.

Yaya looked up at the leaderboard again. “Oh look – Fang is third place!”

“Huh, really?” Ying followed her gaze to see that surely enough, Fang certainly had managed to get to spot #3. “That’s amazing! Good for him!”

“I wonder how Boboiboy and Gopal did…”

“They don’t seem to be on the leaderboard, but it only lists the top few, so – hey wait a second, does that say that Cattus is in fourth place???”

“Cattus took the exam too,” Yaya explained. “Bellbot translated the answers from Cattus’s language.”

“Wow, I guess Cattus must be way smarter than I realized!”

Yaya slipped her hand into Ying’s. “Do you want to go eat breakfast now? I could make cookies! It won’t take long!”

“Uhhhh I’m good thanks!” Ying said quickly. “I’m… I’m still really tired, to be honest, I definitely need some more sleep. I’ll go back to bed now… Will you wake me up in a few hours?”

“Of course I will!”

“Thanks. See you later, cutie-pie!”

Hoping she wasn’t blushing too much, Ying leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek and then sped off.

Well, what a week this had been. She was not only the new Official Smartest Young Member of TAPOPS, but she had an actual girlfriend now too? And not just any girlfriend, but Yaya?

Heh. Maybe life here wasn’t so boring after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! (Or Ferris Wheel Day if you're like me and not into it haha) I hope you enjoyed this - I'd like to write something better for these two at some point, I was having writer's block but I really felt like I wanted to do something for Femslash Feb so I pretty much brute-forced myself into writing it. Not to mention, they are a wonderfully underrated relationship and I adore them.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading! <3


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